Declines From Citigroup Inc (C) Drive Down Financial Sector

Citigroup was a leading decliner within the financial sector, falling $1.61 (-3.6%) to $42.50 on average volume.

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

Citigroup ( C) pushed the Financial sector lower today making it today's featured Financial laggard. The sector as a whole closed the day down 1%. By the end of trading, Citigroup fell $1.61 (-3.6%) to $42.50 on average volume. Throughout the day, 47.6 million shares of Citigroup exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 32.8 million shares. The stock ranged in price between $42.20-$44.10 after having opened the day at $43.97 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $44.11. Other companies within the Financial sector that declined today were: Credit Suisse ( UOIL), down 21.1%, Independent Bank Corp (Ionia MI ( IBCP), down 12.2%, Consumer Portfolio Services ( CPSS), down 11.4%, and Broadway Financial ( BYFC), down 11%.

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Citigroup, Inc., a diversified financial services holding company, provides a range of financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Citicorp and Citi Holdings. Citigroup has a market cap of $133.2 billion and is part of the banking industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 17.6, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 11.5% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday. Currently there are 18 analysts that rate Citigroup a buy, two analysts rate it a sell, and three rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Citigroup as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its increase in net income, attractive valuation levels, solid stock price performance and growth in earnings per share. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.